Getting into a closed beta is usually good news for the player, with one unmistakable caveat -- the NDA. You can't talk about anything that's going on when you play the game, either the cool features that are encouraging to anyone on the fence about the game or the horrible problems that make it a miserable slog. Mortal Online has long been fairly quiet to the outside simply because of its NDA -- but that changes now. As of today, the NDA is lifted on the game and it can be discussed freely.

Henrik Nystrom on the official forums explains that while the game is still undergoing more polish, the core features have all been implemented and tested, which means that the developers are comfortable having the game discussed and dissected elsewhere. The post also states that the release date might be pushed back a little, as well as the plans for the game to move into a fully-open free-to-play beta as they move on to the next phase of testing. It's certainly good news for people interested in Mortal Online who didn't want to purchase the game sight-unseen. So, if you've been playing the game in beta so far, what are your thoughts? You can tell us all about it now.

[Thanks Mortal Online Radio!]

What's more dangerous than an interdimensional prison in which malevolent creatures of immense power plot the destruction of the entire Champions Online world? That same prison being taken over and used as a lair by your hero's Nemesis and the dangerous Shadow Destroyer. After hints and the surprise playtest event, the official site has unveiled a preview of the upcoming Nemesis Confrontation, which looks like an interesting jump forward in the content offered by the game.

Obviously, the Lair in question is the highlight of the update, which features combat against alien gladiators as well as a collection of powerful villains. There are other rewards to be earned as well, however -- ranging from a number of different hero enhancements to costume pieces in the vein of the enemies fought within the lair. If you can't wait to run the lair in order to get the costume pieces (perhaps you have a perfect character concept to start with), the preview promises that they will also be available in the C-Store. Champions Online isn't going to make players wait long for the event, either, as it's launching on the 24th. It should give players quite a bit to be thankful for -- when they're not battling extradimensional alien gladiators, at least.

How would you like to take a trip into space? No, not the stylized science fiction that Star Trek Online promises, or the fantasy-with-spaceships of Star Wars: the Old Republic. We've heard the announcement about NASA's coming space MMO, Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond, but the game hasn't been making the rounds in the usual gaming circuit. An in-depth article about the game's development and planned release is interesting for any fans of the rigors and challenges of spaceflight, not mention a look at a game that's moving far outside the usual realm of our genre.

Much like America's Army, the goal of the game is to try and give players a taste of what it's like to actually work in the field being simulated. While the game is focusing on creating enjoyable gameplay first, players can expect to see landscapes and tasks grounded in solid scientific principles and based upon actual astronaut missions, complete with the real and tangible challenges of exploring inhospitable worlds. The article also discusses the MoonBase module, which is set to be launched as a free standalone component on Steam in January to serve as both a preview and a testbed for the game. Take a look at the full article for a closer examination of what the game could mean, and what it might be like to play a space game where you were less concerned about arming weapons and more concerned with understanding the world around you.

(Or, if you have to, start imagining an expansion set in the 1980s adding the Soviet space program as a new faction. Which is only slightly less realistic.)

Because we don't do straight reviews on this site, a First Impressions piece is the closest you're going to get. In First Impressions, we run through the first 5 to 10 levels of a game and let you know what we thought.

In this one for gPotato's upcoming free-to-play Allods Online, we did something a bit different. Instead of just a write-up, we've also done a short video to show the visual side of our impressions. Why? Because Allods Online deserves it, in our opinion. Keep reading after the jump for the embedded video and a brief run-down of what we thought.

Mixing side-scrolling fighting action with RPG elements seems like it should go together like peanut butter and chocolate, so the biggest surprise about Dungeon Fighter Online is that no one else thought of it first. The game is still in the middle of its open beta, but Nexon's most recent offering gave us a small preview of some of the dungeons to come in the game as well as a number of screenshots of them in play.

Each of the dungeons in question are accessed from a larger hub area, allowing you to whisk yourself promptly off to a specific dungeon, each with its own enemies (and presumably different rewards). The central area Grand Flores, for instance, leads to Mirkwood Frost and Blazing Gaqarak, with the former being a rime-coated expanse of woods and the latter an eternal forest fire. The Sky Tower leads to the Vestibule of Darkness, full of light-dousing goblins and enchanted armor, and the Golem Tower, in which you fight a large number of... well, okay, that one kind of makes it obvious. (It's not kittens.) The Temple of Apostasy leads to the GBL Arad Branch, a library-themed dungeon in which hordes of librarians attempt to surround you with magic and the rage of a thousand cracked book bindings.

Last but not least, Noire Ferra includes among its cavernous reaches the Spider's Lair, sure to be a top vacation spot for arachnophobes everywhere. Take a look at our gallery of shots, and if it gets you interested in Dungeon Fighter Online, let's not forget that the game is currently in open beta.

Final Fantasy XI's final new add-on adventure, A Shantotto Ascension, comes out the ninth of November. Should eight more days prove too long a delay, you might just be pleased at what we have to say. A new trailer, you see, has been put on the site, with our dear professor in the center spotlight. And if you lacked apprehension regarding Shantotto, this new trailer may have you pull quite the reversal.

The trailer makes mention of rituals demonic, a threat whose recurrence is horribly chronic -- but lest you assume that the danger's routine, you had best keep a watch on this unfolding scene. For Shantotto denies that she has lost her mind, and thinks herself flawless (or so she's opined). Yet all of the images that we see within leads us to believe something mad will begin -- and while we don't mean to drive players to terror, to not say the truth would be too much an error. For Shantotto seems poised upon something gigantic, and appears to enlarge to proportions titanic! If you've made Final Fantasy XI your home, be prepared to defend all the roots that you've sown. The release is still pending, but you may purchase today -- so go view the trailer, no need to delay!

We have a bit of a linguistic issue when it comes to information about Final Fantasy XIV -- while no one could argue that it's not being heavily anticipated worldwide, there's the simple reality that the slow trickle of information to news magazines are going to be in Japanese. Great if you can read the language, slightly less so if you can't. But luckily, the intrepid fans at FFXIVCore have a number of people who can at least manage it well enough to bring us the latest tidbits from Connect! On magazine, which had the benefit of having some input from someone who at least briefly got to experience the game hands-on.

It's already been hinted that Lancers, much like Archers, will be affected by the range of their weapons. The magazine goes into further detail regarding this -- for example, if the Lancer is too close to the enemy they'll have to swing the haft of their spear rather than jabbing with it, but they can also potentially sweep the lance like a staff to hit multiple enemies. There's also talk about the difference in tools that crafters can use and what some of the expanded features of the crafting might involve, possibly including the ability to craft multiple items at once (a welcome expansion for those familiar with crafting in Final Fantasy XI).

There's still no word on when exactly we'll be seeing Final Fantasy XIV, but it can't be soon enough. Take a look at the full translation for more details, speculation, and a clearer picture of how the game is different from its predecessor.

Information on LEGO Universe has been somewhat thin as of late, but that's beginning to change. Over at 1up you'll find a meaty preview that covers quite a bit of ground, including basic MMO features like progression to LEGO specific stuff like building quests. The building mode is of course the keystone to this game, and the fact that a player cannot be harmed when entering the mode speaks volumes about its importance.

Aside from building mode, zones in LEGO Universe are likely to be distinctly memorable due to the licenses' ability to have pirate, ninja, robot or even Star Wars themed planets -- assuming they're capable of using any of their real world toy lines within the game. And as for combat? If you've played any of the console LEGO games, then you'll know what to expect, which is essentially action-based combat. There's a lot more detail in the actual preview, so check it out if building with bricks is how you get your kicks.

Good times seem to be here for Dungeons and Dragons Online -- the game has been enjoying a huge surge in popularity from its new free-to-play model, not to mention making quite a bit of money as a result. The game's executive producer, Fernando Paiz, mentioned the game's surge of popularity in the opening of his recent letter to the game's players, but that was hardly the end of the letter. Most of the letter discusses the upcoming improvements to the game, including the upcoming and aptly-named Update 1 that's scheduled for release on October 28th.

One of the more interesting large-scale bits of information is the differentiation now being made between software updates and simple content additions. the game previously used a "module" numbering system for major patches, but Paiz points out that the changes made to the game have meant that content can be added independent of a full-on game update. Update 1, for example, will coincide with the release of a new adventure pack. It will also feature new options such as Veteran mode (allowing you to create a character starting at Level 4 instead of Level 1) and an Epic difficulty setting, further exploring the strength of the game's instanced dungeons. If you haven't yet tried Dungeons and Dragons Online -- and now that it's free to play, you don't have much of an excuse -- it might be well worth it to take a look at what the game has to offer in the near future.

Final Fantasy XI's November update is just around the corner (what with the end of October fast approaching), and that means we're hearing more about what job abilities are due for an upgrade. This time around, we're getting information about the game's two classic pet-using classes, the Summoner and the Beastmaster, and what new abilities are in store for them. To summarize in brief: pure, unadulterated awesome.

Summoners will learn a new ability called Avatar's Favor at level 55, which provides a passive benefit to all party members and reduces the MP cost of keeping an avatar active. With a two-hour duration, the ability is clearly aimed at the longstanding irritation many players have had about the "preferred" approach to summoner pets. Traditionally, the class has been forced to summon their pet, use one of its party-buffing abilities, and then immediately dismiss it due to its low utility in normal combat and the high MP cost of keeping it active. Avatar's Favor obviously rewards keeping a single avatar active on the battlefield to reap the most benefit, and its promise of a cost reduction makes that more fesable.

Beastmasters, meanwhile, are gaining the ability to directly control the special abilities used by their called beasts (as opposed to beasts tamed on the field). The system is explained in brief, but it should help provide some utility and control to a class that has slowly been making the shift over to called pets instead of tamed ones. Both updates should be welcome by the classes, and lend more support to the idea that if the November update is one of the last ones to grace Final Fantasy XI, it will be going out on a high note.

Now that Champions Online is live and full of players facing off against comic-style villains, Cryptic Studios is starting to reveal more about their other major MMO project, Star Trek Online. We're noting more gaming press coverage of this title and came across a preview at the online community Alltern8 written by Carl Doherty. It's worth a look for Star Trek fans curious about what the MMO might add to the IP. He gives readers a basic overview of what Star Trek Online has to offer, but Doherty also acknowledges the challenges Cryptic Studios faces with making the game a hit with fans of the franchise. Doherty writes, "The cerebral pacing and ambitious allegories of Star Trek don't always translate well to the action-packed experiences most gamers expect."

That's by no means an indictment of Cryptic's particular take on bringing Star Trek into the MMO world. In fact, Doherty's impression of STO is that it has the requisite interplay of exploration and conflict that's made Star Trek such an enduring IP.

With all the buzz about space MMOs that are exploring the final frontier or participating in archaic representative democracy, it can be easy to lose sight of Black Prophecy, the upcoming game from German developer Reakktor Media. However, that doesn't make the news about it any less exciting, and it's surprising how much information can be packed into even a simple developer diary about the art direction of one of the game's factions. The Tyi faction, a race of superhuman cyborgs that now consider themselves beyond their parent race, are under examination this time, with a detailed look at how the Tyi aesthetic and philosophy are conveyed through ship designs.

As one would expect from a race accustomed to replacing body parts as fashion or necessity dictates, the Tyi ships are designed with a very modular nature, far more exposed and mechanical than the smooth and sanitized looks seen from other factions. The developer diary talks about the construction of the ships and the stations, as well as showing off several visually stunning pictures that help demonstrate the hard-edged technological feel the faction will bring. If all of that piques your interest -- which it very well might do -- you might want to sign up for the upcoming beta, and get a chance to see Black Prophecy in action.

For whatever reason, MMO gamers have a low opinion of prisons. We always seem to assume that rather than being filled with fuming criminals kept under strict control, every one you venture through will be full of escaped criminals staging an elaborate prison break. Then again, it does have a cool factor going for it, which is doubtlessly why Age of Conan has dipped into the well with its upcoming Iron Tower. MMORPG.com has recently featured both a rundown of the upcoming dungeon's features and a short internal interview offering more details about the tower's design and purpose.

Concluding the game's lore regarding the conflict in the Common District of Tarantia, the Iron Tower is embroiled in a war between a group bent on releasing a specific prisoner and a warden dedicated to preventing that same prisoner's release at all costs. Neither side is benevolent toward the players, with the warden at the edge of madness and the invader releasing prisoners to help supplement her forces, and the battle up the tower requiring high-level players to deal with both forces amidst the deranged captives. If that sounds like a good time to you -- and if you're fond of Age of Conan, we can't imagine it wouldn't -- take a look at both the rundown and the interview, and get ready to break in to a prison.

Like it or not, Star Wars: the Old Republic is not so dissimilar from its source materials -- its planets universally have themes. There's the city planet, of course, and we all know there's going to be the desert planet. And, as it stands, we're now poised to have the weapons planet -- which promises to be as explosive as such a title would suggest. The game has recently unveiled Balmorra, the site of an ongoing struggle between the Republic and the Sith Empire, where the victor claims the preeminent weapons manufacturer in the Core Worlds. The planet started as an ally of the Republic, but during the long war with the Sith Empire the Republic was forced to scale back its efforts to help perserve the planet's independence, culminating in a full withdrawal of its reinforcements to the world.

The Sith quickly claimed the planet in force, with only an underground resistance left with some Republic support to fight back against the invaders and do what damage was possible. Of course, when you're on the most deadly weapon-making planet in the area, you can do quite a bit of damage. The rejuvenated Republic is now returning its troop presence to the planet's surface in hopes that it can wrest the world back after the brief lull of peace, but the Balmorrans haven't exactly forgiven and forgotten the earlier abandonment. For more information on what promises to be one of the most explosive areas in Star Wars: the Old Republic, take a look at the official page containing more pictures and information.

Love it or hate it, opinions have been divided, but the changes made to Warhammer Online in the 1.3.2 patch -- most notably the changes to the starting experience -- have certainly gotten people talking. But it's one thing to discuss it in the abstract and another to see how things play out. The opportunity is now in the hands of the game's players, as the patch has gone live and all of its changes are there for everyone to try.

Rather than locking things down and leaving them there, however, producer Jeff Skalski has released an open letter to the community explaining why some of the changes were made and what changes are coming in the game's next patch, 1.3.3. Cosmetic changes include the options to walk and sit (instead of constantly running and standing) and additions to the game's graphical engine. More far-reaching is the implementation of the Underdog System: a series of running handicaps designed to help bring the side that's consistently losing into better parity with their opponents. Skalski explains in brief how such a system will work and how it will avoid unbalancing matches in the other direction, as well as discussing some of the larger issues Warhammer Online plans to address. If you haven't been playing or you took a break, see what has changed and what's coming, since now is the time to give the game a look.